(11-21-2014, 10:42 PM)Jacafamala Wrote: If not, guinea pigs are a good option. I'm totally serious. They're not like hamsters or gerbils which are always bent on getting away and escaping. A guinea pig will sit in a little towel all the live long day and enjoy being petted. On the whole, they are very sweet and relatively easy to care for creatures.

People looking for intimacy finds only satan's cheap imitation of it. Where are those who will love those who will love those most in need of it?

I don't think it's "Satan's cheap imitation" of intimacy at all; I don't see anything evil in it whatsoever. In fact, I think it's sweet and potentially very helpful. But it is very sad that people have to pay to have that, to feel that. We in the U.S. live in such a low-touch culture, though; that might be part of the problem. Paying for it would obviate any weirdness one might feel in asking to just get all cuddly, something a lot of people would just think of as strange. And it'd eliminate worry about sex getting in the way (I guarantee that most guys would think "yay! sex!" if a girl were to ask to just cuddle At least the men of my generation).

Anyway, I would totally do that job LOL When I was little, my Dad gave me the nickname "Cuddles" 'cause I'd get in the 'rents bed some mornings and get as close to them as I possibly could. Sigh...

I don't have a problem at all with affection. Paying for it seems like an imitation of what is a legitimate and good need though. I believe this imitation will ultimately cause more pain, when the person finds that what they were receiving was only a partial of what it was meant to be. A hug is a very powerful thing- it really means something. It's not just a physical thing- it's an emotional thing that is a way of one person telling the other that 1.) they're not alone in the world and 2.) that our friendship is a very important part of me. As a celibate man, it is the most profound expression of affection I give and receive. I do so very willingly, but I also choose very carefully those I will allow to get that close to me emotionally.

(11-22-2014, 11:38 PM)Credidi Propter Wrote: I don't have a problem at all with affection. Paying for it seems like an imitation of what is a legitimate and good need though. I believe this imitation will ultimately cause more pain, when the person finds that what they were receiving was only a partial of what it was meant to be. A hug is a very powerful thing- it really means something. It's not just a physical thing- it's an emotional thing that is a way of one person telling the other that 1.) they're not alone in the world and 2.) that our friendship is a very important part of me. As a celibate man, it is the most profound expression of affection I give and receive. I do so very willingly, but I also choose very carefully those I will allow to get that close to me emotionally.

I hear ya. The professional cuddler would have to be the type who truly loves people to do the job right. I.e., it wouldn't be an imitation; it'd be real. The cuddler would see the cuddlee as a fellow human who needs love and as someone whom the cuddler loves in an agapic way. It's the same sort of thing with therapists, as Chestertonian and others alluded to above; a good shrink is a natural-born shrink (like an INFJ type) who truly loves others, KWIM? It wouldn't be fake for such a person to want to help someone get to the roots of their problems and talk to them in that way. I'm an INFJ myself, and am fascinated by people and like to help people when I can, even strangers. It wouldn't be fake for me to, for ex., come across someone sobbing and spend a few hours talking to them, trying to help. I guess the question is "Is it OK or wrong or 'fake' or whatever to be paid to use such a gift or 'orientation'?" My take on that is that it isn't any more wrong or fake than someone being paid to nurse someone or teach someone. But shrinks, nurses, and teachers would ideally be the "types" for whom head-shrinking, nursing, and teaching wouldn't be or feel fake to them, but would be what they'd be doing anyway, with their charging for it just 'cause they gotta eat LOL.

My bestie is a professional cuddler. She works for a company called "Cuddle Buddies" in Philly. She enjoys it, and it allows her to work around her husband's schedule to make sure there is care for their children. (he is under employed. Her cuddle sessions allow them to pay the car insurance and gas the car)

(11-23-2014, 08:36 PM)PatienceAndLove Wrote: My bestie is a professional cuddler. She works for a company called "Cuddle Buddies" in Philly. She enjoys it, and it allows her to work around her husband's schedule to make sure there is care for their children. (he is under employed. Her cuddle sessions allow them to pay the car insurance and gas the car)

A married woman "cuddling" other people for pay. I can't even begin to explain how that could end badly......

(11-23-2014, 08:36 PM)PatienceAndLove Wrote: My bestie is a professional cuddler. She works for a company called "Cuddle Buddies" in Philly. She enjoys it, and it allows her to work around her husband's schedule to make sure there is care for their children. (he is under employed. Her cuddle sessions allow them to pay the car insurance and gas the car)

A married woman "cuddling" other people for pay. I can't even begin to explain how that could end badly......

Please do, considering all she does is cuddle, there is no need for the quotes around it.
If you are insinuating she is a woman of ill repute, I suggest you back up a couple feet and take it back.

(11-24-2014, 10:53 PM)PatienceAndLove Wrote: Please do, considering all she does is cuddle, there is no need for the quotes around it.
If you are insinuating she is a woman of ill repute, I suggest you back up a couple feet and take it back.

I am insinuating nothing of the sort. Let's think of it like this. Imagine your husband was a "cuddler." Now imagine all your lonely desperate girlfriends making appointments to "cuddle that man up." Now you get to be the woman whose husband "services the groups need for physical closeness." Or better yet imagine a girl friend that absolutely loathes you and decides to book an appointment with your husband just to stick it to you.

For guys its 100 times worse and easy way to be falsely accused of something.....

(11-24-2014, 10:53 PM)PatienceAndLove Wrote: Please do, considering all she does is cuddle, there is no need for the quotes around it.
If you are insinuating she is a woman of ill repute, I suggest you back up a couple feet and take it back.

I am insinuating nothing of the sort. Let's think of it like this. Imagine your husband was a "cuddler." Now imagine all your lonely desperate girlfriends making appointments to "cuddle that man up." Now you get to be the woman whose husband "services the groups need for physical closeness." Or better yet imagine a girl friend that absolutely loathes you and decides to book an appointment with your husband just to stick it to you.

For guys its 100 times worse and easy way to be falsely accused of something.....

Actually I'm calculating the chances of a problem occurring to be proactive in avoiding behavior that can cause the problem.

Lastly however professional cuddling is just plain old insincere. It's somewhat hypocritical to be addressing a deep need for human comfort with an ingeniune monetary exchange. If I had to pay someone to get near me that would make me feel worse.